Wire closing machine



June 30, 1964 s. B. BLAISDELL WIRE CLOSING MACHINE Filed March 20, 1963 INVENTOR SIDNEY B. BLAISDELL BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent "ice 3,138,914 WIRE CLOSING MACK-ENE Sidney B. Eiaisdell, East Greenwich, RL, assignor to The Edrnands Company, a corporation of Rhode Island Filed Mar. 20, 1963, Ser. No. 266,586 6 Claims. (Cl. 57-58.7)

This invention relates to a double twist closing machine where wires are twisted together and reeled.

Heretofore in closing machines there has been a feeding of the wires into the machine from some source of supply by rotation of a Winding or take-up drum or capstan located in the machine which pulls the wires from their source through the machine as they are twisted. Considerable friction is developed in the pulling of the wires into the machine, and consequently considerable power needs to be used on the winding or take-up drum or capstan which is rotated, thus requiring very heavy supporting apparatus for the take-up mechanism due to the fact that heavy motors or capstans are used for this take-up.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an arrangement whereby less power need be used and thus smaller motors may be employed for the take-up drum, thus reducing the expense in equipment.

More specifically, an object of the invention is .toapply a drive to a stationary metering capstan over which the Wires from the supply are drawn and delivered to the twisting machine, thus supplying a part of the pull necessary, and then to use a smaller motor for the take-up mechanism which will just about take care of the drive of the reeling drum and some friction through the twisting machine and which motor is supported on the cradle as the twist is applied to the wires. The take-up motor merely pulls through the loose fed Wires which are maintained under very little tension.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic View showing a doubleuv-ist closing machine with my invention in the line of feed thereto;

FIG. 2 is an elevation on a larger scale of the wire feeding mechanism and the drive therefor;

FIG. 3 is a fragmental end view of a portion of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view through one of the guides on line 44 of FIG. 2.

In proceeding with this invention, I have inserted between the source of supply of the strands and the double twist mechanism, a capstan and driven this capstan so as to pull the strands from the source and deliver the strands to the closing die just ahead of the entry of the strands into the twisting mechanism so that the strands will be fed to this closing die, leaving for the twisting machine the use of a motor to supply only the force required to pull the strands through the closing die and through the operations of the machine, thus making it possible to use a much lighter motor for reeling the completed strand after twisting. Further I have provided an arrangement so that where a plurality of strands are supplied from the source that they will be fed in a ribbon-like form in side by side relation so as to increase their contact with the capstan drum and provide a greater friction with the drum to be pulled and fed to the closing die.

With reference to the drawings, the apparatus may be considered as having a source of supply in the area shown in the drawings at A, a double twist mechanism shown atarea B, with a capstan between the source of supply and the double twist mechanism shown at area C and a closing 3,138,914 Patented June 30, 1964 die to which the capstan delivers the strand shown at area D. The invention in this application is primarily concerned with the mechanism in and about the capstan as shown at area C.

With reference to the drawings, B designates generally the double twist mechanism which comprises a take-up reel 10 mounted in a cradle 11. This reel 10 is driven by means of motor 12 through pulley 13 on the armature shaft of the motor, pulley 14 on the shaft 15 of the takeup reel, the two pulleys being connected by a belt 16 or a plurality of belts. The cradle 11 is supported at one end through sleeve 17 on shaft 18, while it is supported through sleeve 19 on shaft 20 at its opposite end. Shafts 18 and 20 are in axial alignment and rotate while the cradle 11 remains stationary or in a floating position upon the rotating shafts. Shafts 18 and 29 are provided with flanges 21 between which a bow 22 extends and serves to connect these shafts 18 and 20 so that they rotate together and swing the bow, or bows if there is a balancing bow on the other side, about the take-up reel which is mounted within it.

A motor 23 drives the shaft 20 through belts 24 and 25, belt 25 driving pulley 26 on the shaft 20. A plurality of belts may be utilized for this purpose. The motor 23 serves as the master motor of the apparatus, whereas the motor 12 will be the follower motor and have its speed varied in accordance with the requirements of the apparatus.

Brackets 3i and 31 are attached to the shaft 18 to rotate with it and carry pulleys 32 and 33 about which the cable or stranded wire passes as it is formed and drawn through the machine to be assembled on the take-up reel 10.

The supply for the single wires to the closing machine is shown generally at 35 at the left of FIG. 1, and as shown, there is a wire from supply 36 which may serve as the center core of the assembled cable, while groups of wires 37 and 33 will lead from these supplies 37 and 38 to be assembled about the wire 36, while wires from other supplies 39 and 40 will lead from these supplies to be assembled about a first layer of Wires about the core 36. Each of these supplies 3'7, 38, 39 and 40 may represent several wires from each source.

The capstan comprises a supporting stand having a base with upright supports 51, 51 and mounting beams 52, 52 between which there is located drum 53 rotatable on shaft 54. A'second drum 55 rotatable on shaft 56 is mounted between uprights 51'. A pulley 57 on shaft 58 is provided over which the wires from the supply source are led. A guide 59 is located so that the'wires located in side by side relation will be directed to the drum in ribbon form. This guide comprises openings corresponding to the number of wires to be guided. Thus there will be the center opening 60 for the core 36, two groups of three openings 61 and 61' in side by side relation for the wires 37 and 38 and two groups of six wires 62 and 62' in side by side relation for the wires 39 and 40. Each of the capstans 53 and 55 are of a stepped formation, there being a smaller center area 65 about which the center core wire 36 will contact, while there are areas 66 and 66 along which the groups of three wires 37 and 38 Will extend, while there are other step portions 67 and 67 along which the group of six wires 39 and 40 will extend and contact. By this arrangement the maximum amount of contact between the wires and the drum may be had. It will, of course, be understood that these drums are presently calculated as to size so that they will meter or deliver the correct feed so that as the wires are twisted and thus taken up partly by the twist, the correct amount of wire will be led into the double twist machine to prevent buckling or kinking of the wires as twisted. The

wires as thus arranged are first led about the guide pulley 57 and then through guide 59 and then about the drum 53 from the lower portion of the drum around approximately three-quarters of its circumference and then on to the drum 55 which is similarly stepped so that the wires will be also laid on this drum in ribbon form, then approximately three-quarters of the circumference of this drum and thence through a guide 70 similar to guide 59 through spacer plate 71 and thence to the closing die 72 in area D and then to the double twist mechanism. The drum shaft 54 is provided with a gear 73 and drum shaft 56 is provided with a gear '74, the teeth of which mesh with one another so that the duplicate drums will rotate in unison, these drums being identical in size.

The drums are driven through a gear and shaft mechanism designated generally 86 which comprises a framework having a base 81, uprights 82, and three shafts 83, 84 and 35 rotatable in bearings carried on this framework. The shaft 33 is driven from the input shaft 20 by means of gear 86 on shaft 26 and gear 87 on shaft 83 by means of a chain 88.

A mitre gear box 90 is driven from shaft 85 by means of sprockets 91 and 92 through chain 93. A gear 9 ton shaft 95 drives gear 96 on shaft 54 of drum 53 by means of a chain 97. Shaft 85 may be rotated in either direction from shaft 83 by being connected thereto through either change gears 98 and 99 on shafts 83 and S to rotate shaft 35 in one direction or through gears 100 on shaft 83 and 101 on 34 and 192 on 85 to rotate shaft 85 in the opposite direction. When gears 93 and 99 are used to rotate shaft 85 in one direction, gear 192 is moved out of mesh with gear 1&1, and when gears 101 and 102 are used to rotate the shaft 85 in the opposite direction, gear 99 is removed from shaft 85, the arrangement being only so that the shaft 85 may be rotated in either direction desired for convenience in the setting up of the machinery.

The motor 12 is an eddy current motor with an eddy current circuit and clutch and is set so that electrically the tension on the wire wound on take-up drum 10 will remain constant as the wire builds upon drum 10.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for closing a number of strands of wire, a double twist mechanism including a take-up reel, a motor for driving the reel, a source of input strands, a closing die from which the strands lead to said twist mechanism, a capstan of a plurality of diameters about which the input strands pass in engagement with the different diameters from the input source to the closing die, means independent of said motor to drive the capstan to draw the strands from said source and deliver them to said closing die whereby the motor for driving the reel need only pull the strands through the closing die and through the twist mechanism.

2. In an apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the capstan comprises a plurality of drums about which the strands extend, each one of which is of different diameters to feed the proper amount of strands.

3. In an apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the capstan comprises a plurality of drums about which the strands extend, each one of which is of different diameters to feed the proper amount of strands and said drums are of equal size and are connected to be driven in unison.

4. In an apparatus for forming stranded wire, a double twist mechanism including a take-up reel, a motor for driving the reel, a source of a plurality of input strands, a capstan comprising a drum of a plurality of diameters, and guide means to deliver the strands to the drum in a ribbon form with different strands engaging the different drum diameters whereby each wire of the strand ribbon contacts the convex face of the drum.

5. In an apparatus for closing a number of strands of wire, a double twist mechanism including a take-up reel and a bow revolvable about the reel, a motor for driving the reel, a second motor for revolving the bow, a source of input strands, a closing die from which the strands lead to said twist mechanism, a capstan of a plurality of diameters about which the input strands pass in engagement with the different diameters from the input source to the closing die, and means to mechanically drive the capstan from the second motor for revolving the bow to draw the strands from said source and deliver them to said closing die whereby the motor for driving the reel need only pull the strands through the closing die and through the twist mechanism.

6. In an apparatus for closing a number of strands of wire, a double twist mechanism including a take-up reel, a motor for driving the reel, a source of a plurality of input strands, a capstan comprising a drum of a plurality of diameters, guide means to deliver the strands to the drum in a ribbon form with different strands engaging the ditferent drum diameters whereby each wire of the strand ribbon contacts the convex face of the drum, a closing die and means independent of said motor to drive the capstan to draw the strands from said source and deliver them to s id closing die whereby the motor for driving the reel need only pull the strands through the closing die and through the twist mechanism.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 723,178 Norman Mar. 17, 1903 2,143,417 Johannessen et a1. Jan. 10, 1939 2,921,429 Haugwitz Jan. 19, 1960 2,985,994 Menke et al. May 30, 1961 3,053,039 Demmel Sept. 11, 1962 

1. IN AN APPARATUS FOR CLOSING A NUMBER OF STRANDS OF WIRE, A DOUBLE TWIST MECHANISM INCLUDING A TAKE-UP REEL, A MOTOR FOR DRIVING THE REEL, A SOURCE OF INPUT STRANDS, A CLOSING DIE FROM WHICH THE STRANDS LEAD TO SAID TWIST MECHANISM, A CAPSTAN OF A PLURALITY OF DIAMETERS ABOUT WHICH THE INPUT STRANDS PASS IN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE DIFFERENT DIAMETERS FROM THE INPUT SOURCE TO THE CLOSING DIE, MEANS INDEPENDENT OF SAID MOTOR TO DRIVE THE CAP- 